Team - The Initiative Coordination Office - G20 Global Land InitiativeG20 Global Land Initiative

The Initiative Coordination Office

The ICO will have dedicated full-time staff and an annual budget from which it will fund its core activities. The ICO will receive administrative and financial oversight from the UNCCD Secretariat as part of a formalized collaboration agreement.

The Initiative Coordination Team

Muralee Thummarukudy

Director

Muralee Thummarukudy

Director, G20 Global Land Initiative

Dr. Thummarukudy brings to this position over three decades of progressive senior management experience and technical expertise in land restoration issues. He has most recently served as the acting Head of the Disasters and Conflicts Programme at the United Nations Environment Programme, where he implemented a portfolio of over 100 million USD, focusing on ecosystem-based disaster reduction and partnership development.

An internationally renowned expert in disaster response, he played a key role in addressing the environmental aftermath of many major conflicts and disasters, implementing projects in over 35 countries. Prior to joining the United Nations, Dr. Thummarukudy served as Environmental Advisor to Shell Group in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He was also a Beahr’s fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Thummarukudy is also a well-known author in his native Malayalam language.

E-mail: mthummarukudy@unccd.int

Wagaki Wischnewski

Communication Coordinator

Wagaki Wischnewski

Communication Coordinator

Ms. Wischnewski brings to this position over 20 years’ experience in strategic communications, public policy and advocacy on sustainable development. As press and media lead at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) for the last 12 years, she is credited with raising the Convention’s media visibility globally and bringing innovation to communications work. She introduced social media tools and most recently oversaw the Convention’s rebranding and website redesign.

At UNCCD, she led the United Nations system-wide Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (2010-2020), which raised global awareness about the challenges of desertification and drought and their solutions, and created the appetite for restoration. As the Convention’s gender focal point from 2014 to 2018, she led the process that made the Convention gender responsive. She co-designed a communications-driven webinar series on youth innovation focused on new opportunities presented by the green economy that created a strong foundation for youth engagement.

Fluent in five languages, Ms Wischnewski has Masters Degrees in Journalism (Kenya), Policy Studies (Zimbabwe) and Political Science (United States).

E-mail: wwischnewski@unccd.int

Salma AlSayyad

Policy Officer

Salma Alsayyad

Policy Officer, G20 Global Land Initiative

Salma sees the mission for land as an environmental, social, and economics question requiring new partnerships and multi-sectoral strategies for the people and the planet to benefit.

Prior to joining the Initiative’s Coordination Office, Salma was on UNCCD’s reporting team with a work portfolio that includes engaging with the Environment Working Group at the G20 Forum supporting the birth of the Initiative in 2020, as well as engaging with the Arab World and its regional organizations supporting a notable shift towards land as a priority focus.

Her previous work includes roles with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the international Organization for Migration (IOM) where she has worked in different country contexts.

E-mail: salsayyad@unccd.int

Georgina Bwango

Administrative and Finance Officer

Georgina Bwango

Administrative and Finance Officer

Administrative and Finance Officer at UNCCD playing a key role in the preparation and review of finalised budget proposals, financial forecasts and estimates to help control costs, monitor utilisation of funds, and achieve targets. An experienced accountant with over ten years work experience, of which the last three have been senior positions.

Adept at maintaining proper accounting records, documenting processes, preparing financial statements, and analyzing financials to identify variances, recognize and mitigate risks. Georgina has assessed the adequacy of various project financial management systems; including administration, budgeting, policies, procedures, internal controls, financial reporting and auditing.

Previously the Finance and Budget Officer with the UNEP - MEA Advisory unit. She holds a BSC(Hons) in Applied accounting, and an MBA from Oxford Brookes University. She is also a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

E-mail: gbwango@unccd.int

Andreea Becheru

Office Management

Andreea Becheru

Office Management

Andreea has both a Legal and Administrative Sciences and Business Administration master’s degree.

She also has over 20 years of professional experience in business administration and project management implementation in multicultural environments such as United Nations, European Commission, Government and Private Sector.

She has been working in UN system for more than 11 years having the opportunity to provide comprehensive support to several global projects’ implementation across UNV, UNICEF, UNFCCC and now to UNCCD.

E-mail: abecheru@unccd.int

Mohamed Abd salam EL Vilaly

Programme Officer Information Management

Mohamed Abd salam EL Vilaly

Programme Officer, Information Management

Mohamed Abd Salam EL Vilaly is a Programme Officer with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat in Bonn, leading Information Management for the G20 Global Land Initiative. Mohamed Abd Salam El Vilaly received a B.Sc. in water resources management from the University of Nouakchott, Mauritania in 2001, a Specialized M.Sc. degree (diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées ) in groundwater management from the University of Grenoble, France in 2003, a Research M.Sc. degree (Diplôme d'études approfondies ) in hydrology from the University of Avignon and the Vaucluse, France in 2004, and a Ph.D. degree in applied remote sensing for Earth Sciences from the University of Arizona, the United States, in 2013.

Dr. Abd Salam has over 18 years of combined work experience from the United Nations, the humanitarian, academic, and private sectors. His research focuses on integrating and analysing multitemporal airborne and satellite remote sensing data with GIS technologies to monitor and model human-environment interactions across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. More specifically, Abd Salam’s work intersects the concepts of big data analytics, decision-making, planning and management, and the development of online data and knowledge exploration tools and platforms.

Prior to joining the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) as a Program Officer (Information Management), Dr Abd Salam worked for the International Food Policy Research Institute(IFPRI) in Washington DC, AfricaRice in Cotonou, Benin, United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) in Johannesburg, South Africa and in New York, USA, and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia(UN-ESCWA) in Beirut, Lebanon.

Email to: avilaly@unccd.int

Paula Padrino Vilela

Associate Programme Management Officer

Paula Padrino Vilela

Associate Programme Management Officer

Associate Programme Management Officer at UNCCD based in Bonn. Paula is originally from Spain and has accumulated over 4 years of professional experience in the humanitarian and human rights fields, working for major international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), NATO and the United Nations (UN). Prior to joining the G20 Global Initiative on Land, Paula was Project Coordinator at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Disasters and Conflicts Branch.

She possesses an LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy in Switzerland and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain. Having lived in different countries, one of Paula’s passions is learning languages. She speaks fluent Spanish, English, Italian and French and recently took on the challenge to learn German and Arabic.

E-mail: pvilela@unccd.int

Joann Lee

Programme Officer

Joann Lee

Programme Officer

Joann Lee is a Programme Officer with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat in Bonn, leading stakeholder engagement for the G20 Global Land Initiative. She has over 11 years of combined experience in programme management and law. Prior to joining the UNCCD Secretariat, she was a Programme Analyst with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in New York, working on economic empowerment, climate change, and technology and innovation issues. Her previous experience also includes coordinating advocacy and outreach efforts with the Center for Women's Global Leadership and investigating environmental compliance matters as an attorney with the California Department of Justice. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Cornell Law School and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and East Asian Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

E-mail: jlee@unccd.int

Devashree Niraula

Research and Outreach Specialist

Devashree Niraula

Research and Outreach Specialist

Devashree is from Kathmandu, Nepal is a research associate at the G20 global initiative on land.

She is a graduate of Gothenburg University, Sweden with a major in climate and ecosystem.

Devashree has a solid academic background in research, climate data and geospatial analysis.

Prior to her involvement with UNCCD, she was an intern at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a climate and security intern. In this capacity, Devashree had been supporting the unit with research, data analysis and coordination.

Devashree’s interests lie in interdisciplinary work of anthropogenic impacts research and using that research to inform policy on all levels.

E-mail: dniraula@unccd.int

Bettina Reinartz

Bettina Reinartz

Admin and Travel Assistant

Bettina Reinartz

Admin and Travel Assistant

Bettina is a seasoned and dedicated professional in administration with more than 14 years at UNEP's Secretariat for Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas. Within the G20 Global Land Initiative team, she will be focusing on travel and administration.

E-mail: breinartz@unccd.int

Key Technical Experts

Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux

Environmental Education Outreach Specialist

Dr. Karen Sudmeier – November, 2022

Environmental Education Outreach Specialist

Base : Geneva, CH

Environmental education outreach specialist with two decades of experience researching, teaching and publishing on ecosystem restoration for reducing climate risks.

Karen was the lead developer of two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), most notably: ‘Nature-based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience’, with over 60,000 registered. She is an affiliated Senior Scientist at TH-Köln, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Prior to this, Karen was a Senior Adviser, Disaster Risk Reduction with the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Disasters and Conflicts program in Geneva Switzerland, where she managed several large projects related to ‘Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction’.

Karen is also a scholar of ecosystem management for landslide management and developed the concept of “Eco-Safe Roads”, with expertise from the Himalayas. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and Masters’ degrees in international development and forest ecology from Switzerland and the United States. She continues to give university lectures and mentors students worldwide.

Iyenemi Ibimina Kakulu

PhD, Senior Project Advisor

Iyenemi Ibimina Kakulu

PhD, Senior Project Advisor

Iyenemi Ibimina (Ibby) Kakulu is a Professor of Land Management and Valuation of the Rivers State University in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She is a Senior Expert on Gender and Land with the G20 Global Land Initiative Coordination Office.

Prof Kakulu has an academic background in Real Estate appraisal and planning with over thirty-eight years in academia. She is a specialist in value-centric sustainable land use and is widely published. She has been instrumental to the development of postgraduate programmes that address sustainable land management, pro-poor approaches to land use and gender equality issues.

Prof Kakulu has held leadership positions within the Nigerian University system, served on different academic and professional governing boards and councils. She is a Senior Project Advisor to UNEP in its support to the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP). In this role, she is providing strategic mentorship on gender and livelihoods empowerment, to HYPREP's project coordination office.

E-mail: ibbykakulu@gmail.com

Santhakumar Velappan Nair

Professor Economic-sociology

Santhakumar V

Professor Economic-sociology

A professor at Azim Premji University in Bangalore, India.

He has specialised in environmental and institutional economics and published a number of research articles in these areas. He has also worked as a consultant of UNEP for a number of assignments. His task in these assignments was to carry out the economic assessment of environmental losses due to disaster, conflicts and other man-made events.

He has also worked on incentive and institutional mechanisms to conserve the environment and natural resources including biodiversity.

He started his research work on land and water resources and irrigation-led salinization. This has led to an understanding of the policy-induced disincentives leading to the degradation of natural resources. His association with the Global 20 initiative of the UNCCD may help assessing the economic losses of land-degradation and the designing of incentives which may encourage land-users, land-owners, private firms and governments to take effective steps against landdegradation and desertification.

E-mail: santhakumar@apu.edu.in

Dr. Tony Simons

Senior Expert on Land Restoration

Dr. Tony Simons

Senior Expert on Land Restoration

He is an accomplished expert in forest genetics and tropical forestry and his expertise spans public, private and academic sectors. He completed his PhD in Forest Genetics at Cambridge University, United Kingdom.In 2009, Tony was made Honorary Professor in Tropical Forestry at Copenhagen University and in 2021, he was bestowed the position of lifetime Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy (Agriculture and Forestry) by King Carl XIV Gustaf. From 1995, he worked full-time for ICRAF based out of Nairobi, Kenya, climbing the ranks up to become Director General in 2011.
He started his career with Shell Forestry and with the UK Government seconded to Fiji. Tony is an innovative and inspirational leader who is also a proficient and trusted manager. For more than 30 years, he has worked in over 40 developing countries on landscape issues at the agriculture/forestry interface, and is committed to gender and youth empowerment. Tony Simons is based in Kenya and the UK.

Hari Madathil Rajappan Nair

Senior Expert – Miyawaki Forests

Hari Madathil Rajappan Nair

Senior Expert - Miyawaki Forests

With a thirty-year career in digital media production and eighteen-year experience in afforestation and land restoration, M. R. Hari’s expertise lies in harnessing the potential of the digital media to promote Miyawaki Model as a way to encourage eco-rejuvenation and preservation of bio-diversity, and to combat problems like climate change. He has guided or participated in the creation of more than 200 urban micro-forests in various parts of India and outside. He has produced more than 160 videos in his native language of Malayalam (with English subtitles) on Miyawaki forests and environment-related issues, and aired them through his video channel www.youtube.com/crowdforesting. His latest project, the Miyawaki Memorial Live Nature Lab, attempts to intensify Nature-awareness among school children by exposing them to live vegetation and the ecosystem of small creatures. Formally trained in mass communication and law, M. R. Hari is associated with two MSMEs as the Executive Chairman of Invis Private Limited and Director of Culture Shoppe Private Limited. He also works as the Director of AGES (Agriculture and Eco System Management Group), a non-governmental organization that promotes sustainable development. He has two books to his credit, and has been video-documenting Indian culture and heritage for two decades.

Technical and other Support

Murat Gungor

Website & Online Strategy Consultant

Murat Gungor

Website & Online Strategy Consultant

Murat is responsible for making sure the website content is engaging, up-to-date and optimized for user traffic. He supports the team in generating multimedia content for our website, including for COP16.

Murat brings a wealth of experience in the field of digital communications, from his experience at various UN and other international organizations, including UNOPS, OSCE and WHO. His professional work involves redesigning intranets and websites, managing social media campaigns and developing multimedia products, specifically focusing on turning technical content into usable digital content for a variety of audiences.

Murat holds an MA in Communication, culture and technology from Georgetown University, United States, and an MA in Cultural studies from Bilgi University, Turkey.

E-mail: mgungor@unccd.int

Antonia Mendes

Stakeholder Engagement Consultant

Antonia de Abreu Coutinho

Digital marketing specialist

Environmental digital marketing and stakeholder engagement specialist. She holds a Master’s degree in Environment and Public Health from University of Melbourne and a Bachelor degree in Economics from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And she has been working with the UN since 2016. Antonia has worked during four and half years with the UN Environment Programme at the Disasters and Conflicts Branch. Her main responsibilities were communications, knowledge management, editorial coordination, digital marketing and web support. In addition, during her last year at UNEP, she was the main focal point and responsible for the stakeholder engagement of the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR), which has over 20 members.

Prior to joining UN Environment Programme, Antonia worked principally in finance and marketing and was an active volunteer in the environmental field. In Brazil, she worked in the marketing strategy department of Ipiranga, a Brazilian oil company.

During her Master’s degree in Melbourne, Australia, Antonia volunteered with an urban agriculture NGO, Three Thousand Acres. She also started a citizen science digital application on urban biodiversity, together with her university and peers. Antonia participated in the Climate Reality training, the global programme hosted by Al Gore aiming to explain climate change clearly to non-experts. Antonia then acted as a mentor during subsequent Climate Reality training in Brazil in 2014, hosted in her home town of Rio de Janeiro. Antonia is passionate about the importance of communicating environmental issues to the general public and making sure UN Environment’s message reaches every household.

E-mail: atrompieri89@gmail.com

Daniela Cristofori

Visualisation Consultant

Daniela Cristofori

Graphic designer

Stockholm based graphic designer with 17 years of experience working for the UN and other leading organizations that serve some of the world’s most marginalized people.

During this time, she has worked with nearly all UN agencies and have held/ or is currently holding Long Term Arrangements with UNICEF, FAO, UNEP, UNESCO, ILO, Transparency International, Clinton Foundation, and I-TECH.

She has spent most of her adult life in southern Africa; Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique to be precise. Prior to that she lived for several years in Tbilisi, Georgia, in Rome and Milan, Italy.

She joined the UNCCD team as an external consultant in 2019 and has since then worked on refining the new UNCCD corporate identity and redesigning the website.

Daniela is fluent in Swedish, Italian, English and conversational in Portuguese.

E-mail: daniela@danielacristofori.com

Apoorva Bose

Programme Coordinator

Apoorva Bose

Programme Coordinator

Apoorva is an International Human Rights lawyer who works as the India Programme Coordinator, Global Initiative G20 at UNCCD. She holds a Master’s degree in International Law from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, and did her Bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, India.

Her areas of expertise range from environmental and humanitarian law to development communications and programme coordination. Prior to joining UNCCD, she worked as a Communications and Community Engagement Expert at UNEP and as a Legislative Assistant to a Member of the Indian Parliament. At UNEP, Apoorva was involved in the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), and oversaw the Disasters and Conflicts Branch’s communications strategy.

Apoorva’s professional experience extends beyond jurisprudence and communications. She has donned many hats; an actress in the Malayalam film industry, a singer, a voice artist, and a classically-trained dancer. She is also a TEDx speaker and was awarded the “30 under 30” recognition for lawyers and legal influencers by BW Businessworld in 2021.

E-mail: abose@unccd.int

Maria Rother

Research Associate

Maria Rother

Research Associate

Maria is from Siegburg, Germany and graduated from University College Dublin, Ireland with a Master's degree in Sustainable Development. She also has a background in media and business psychology. Prior to her current role, she was an intern at the G20 Global Land Initiative and the German Corporation for International Cooperation, where she gained experience in land restoration and international development work. Since then, she has worked in different organisations, such as the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Cameroon Association of Active Youths, collecting various types of data and conducting relevant research. Maria's interests lie in research on enhancing climate action to make the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals more feasible.

Email: mrother2@unccd.int

Matheus Fontes

Brazil Liaison Officer Consultant

Matheus Fontes

Brazil Liaison Officer Consultant

Originally from Brazil, Matheus has accumulated more than two years of experience in the humanitarian and environmental sector. Prior to joining the G20 GLI, Matheus worked at the UN World Food Programme’s Legal Office providing support for the conclusion of public and private partnerships. His previous experience also includes the UN Environment Programme, where he was one of the co-drafters of a Report on Modern Technologies for Disaster Management and represented UNEP at at Start Global 2022 in St Gallen, Switzerland. His other engagements included representing a Brazilian NGO at the Human Rights Council and providing free legal advice for residents of his hometown in Brazil. Matheus earned a Masters degree at the Geneva Graduate Institute and Bachelor of Law from the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil.

Armando Guerra

Videographer

Armando Guerra

Videographer

Armando Guerra began his filmmaking career in his native Cuba, where he started out as a fixer for National Public Radio and a producer for CNN. His documentary films have won numerous prizes, including several gold, silver and bronze Telly Awards for his early coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, synthetic drug making, the wildfires ravaging Brazil's Pantanal, the world's largest wetland; or the fate of Hondurans affected by climate change.

Environmental issues are recurrent theme in Guerra's films, especially when they intersect with human and gender rights, food security, land rights and the future of indigenous populations like the Garífunas in Honduras, the Cofan people in Ecuador, the Gunas in Panama, or the Xavantes of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Armando Guerra is a regular consultant with different UN agencies such as IFRC and UNEP; and has created campaigns and online training for international organizations such as the International Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He lives between Valencia, Spain and Copenhague, Denmark.

E-mail: armando.guerra@mambopanda.com

Lorenza Contin

Research Associate

Lorenza Contin

Research Associate

Lorenza Contin is a Research Associate at the G20 GLI. For the next six months, Lorenza will support the Director in the development of a strategic roadmap for UNCCD CoP16 and other critical initiatives focused on land conservation and restoration. With a specialized expertise in ecosystem-based and disaster risk management, Lorenza brings her knowledge of the intersection between environment and migration through her research and work with various NGOs. She has previously served as an intern with the UNEP Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction, and as a Project Assistant and Researcher in organizations dedicated to sustainable development and Nature-based Solutions, including Entrepreneurs pour la Planète and ClimaTalk.

Lorenza holds a Master’s in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po (Paris School of International Affairs) and a Bachelor’s degree in Comparative, European, and International Law from the University of Trento. Additionally, she completed a Summer School in Climate Change-related Migration at SOAS University of London. Her academic achievements are complemented by her active volunteer work, including contributions to the COP-5 to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, UNHCR community-based protection activities in Malaysia, and emergency assistance during the 2022 floods in Italy.

Residing in Padova, Italy, Lorenza's personal interests reflect her passion for human connections and environmental stewardship. She is learning Arabic to better engage with people on the move and has a love for language exchanges, having improved her German and French through such experiences. An enthusiastic hiker, Lorenza embarks on annual week-long backpacking trips in nature, and she has been training in aerial silks at the circus since high school. She also earned academic recognition, including the Italian Excellence Student Award in 2019.

Email: lcontin@unccd.int

Interns

Veronica Vasilica

Intern

Veronica Vasilica

Intern

Veronica has a strong scientific background, with a BSc in Natural Science, University of Padova, Italy, and an MSc in Global Change Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Germany. Throughout her career she has worked in diverse research areas and locations. She has modelled alternatives to oil production in the Ecuadorian Amazon using geographic information systems, analyzed soil samples to research carbon sources in North American temperate forests, and worked with small-scale farmers in Western Kenya, collaborating with the World Agroforestry Soil and Land Health Team.

In ecological terms, she likes to call herself a generalist. Her primary interest, however, lies in building capacity to support community resilience to climate change, and in bridging the gap between science and society when it comes to climate action. She particularly advocates for initiatives that promote land restoration and soil health, and is eager to engage more deeply with these efforts.

Outside of work, you may find her dancing, rock climbing, or traveling around the world.

Luisa Castro

Intern

Luisa Castro

Intern

Luisa Castro currently holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering with a specialization in hydraulic. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Integrated Water Resources Management focused on the Middle East and North Africa – MENA – one of the most vulnerable regions to water scarcity, at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences – TH Köln in Cologne Germany.

Thanks to a complete and diverse experience in environmental regulatory compliance in the private mining and oil and gas sector in Colombia, she has dedicated herself to the application of geographic information systems for the management of natural resources. Luisa is passionate about modeling water resources, predicting climate change, quantifying the impacts of land degradation, and understanding community-environment relationships. She is a lover of museums, hiking and running.

Fabiola Nava

Intern

Fabiola Nava

Intern

Fabiola Nava is a seasoned professional with a robust background in International Relations, Operational Excellence, and Project Management. Holding a Master's degree in Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, Fabiola has excelled in various roles across different regions and industries. A standout accomplishment in her career was as a Senior Trade & Investment Advisor at ProMexico, where she successfully secured investments of USD 65 Million from Indian companies for Mexico, leading to the creation of over 600 new jobs.

Fabiola is recognized for her adaptability in diverse environments, including developing countries and dynamic industries, demonstrating exceptional leadership and collaboration skills. Fluent in English and Spanish, with a basic understanding of Portuguese and Hindi, she brings a global perspective to her work. Beyond her professional endeavours, Fabiola finds joy in photography and travel, enhancing her experiences and broadening her horizons.

Marijn Soede

Intern

Marijn Soede

Intern

Marijn holds a Master of Sciences in Global Challenges for Sustainability from CHARM-EU. In his final master’s project, he focused on decoloniality and decolonizing an international institution. With a bachelor's degree in liberal arts and sciences from University College Utrecht, he specialized in Anthropology and Law. From these experiences Marijn is committed to conducting impactful research dedicated to social and environmental justice. His professional experience includes roles at AIESEC and Share-Net Netherlands, where he worked on client experience, international relations, and decolonization strategies. Outside of work, Marijn enjoys exploring literature, plant-based cooking, and music. Passionate about continuous learning, Marijn is committed to positively impacting the world.

Sébastien Brion

Intern

Sébastien Brion

Intern

Sébastien Brion is from Lyon, France and is an intern at the G20 Global Land Initiative at the UNCCD. He graduated a BA in Politics and International Relations at SOAS University London and a MSc in Environment, Politics, and Society at UCL. Sébastien has completed two independent research projects, one exploring values within climate governance and the other examining the grip of unsustainable practices in expatriate lifestyles. He worked at French developmental NGO CCFD-Terre Solidaire and has been involved in volunteering work ranging from youth education in China to peacebuilding efforts in Kosovo. Sébastien’s areas of interests consist of sustainable agriculture and behavioral studies, with the aim of working for a just transition towards sustainability.

Diya Deepak

Intern

Diya Deepak

Intern

Diya, from Kerala, India, is an Environmental Studies and Public Policy graduate of FLAME University, Pune. Over the past few years, Diya has undertaken multiple research internships focusing on topics around conservation and governance. She initially worked with the Center for Land Governance on the Government of India’s Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) regarding land tenure formalisation and community impact. Afterwards, Diya worked with Prof. Andrea D Phillott for a brief period, reviewing physical tags for marine turtles. Post her graduation, she joined Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore, as a research intern, where she looked at the perceptions of the local community in Minicoy Island, India, on the impacts of climate change and also assisted in documenting customary resource management systems on the island. Outside of her primary areas of interest, Diya has also volunteered for local NGOs, aiding the education of tribal children in rural Maharashtra and digital fundraising and content creation during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Initiative Coordination Office

The Initiative Coordination Team

Muralee Thummarukudy

Wagaki Wischnewski

Salma AlSayyad

Georgina Bwango

Andreea Becheru

Mohamed Abd salam EL Vilaly

Paula Padrino Vilela

Joann Lee

Devashree Niraula

Bettina Reinartz

Bettina Reinartz

Key Technical Experts

Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux ​

Iyenemi Ibimina Kakulu

Santhakumar Velappan Nair

Dr. Tony Simons

Hari Madathil Rajappan Nair

Technical and other Support

Murat Gungor

Antonia Mendes

Daniela Cristofori

Apoorva Bose

Maria Rother​

Matheus Fontes

Armando Guerra

Lorenza Contin

Interns

Veronica Vasilica

Luisa Castro

Fabiola Nava

Marijn Soede

Sébastien Brion

Diya Deepak

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Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux

Maria Rother